Soda Stream is cool again
For months, I eyed off the cool new Soda Streams whenever I was in my local KMart. I always assumed it would be a waste of money.
But now that I’ve got one – I LOVE IT.
Here are some tips that I wish I knew before I wasted all those months years of NOT having a Soda Stream in my life.
- The initial set up is most expensive part, $60 for the start up pack, $15 for 2 extra bottles, ~$6 for flavours
- It’s not powered
- It’s got a relatively small footprint, so it doesn’t take up much space on the benchtop
- The bottles have an expiry date – a few years, on average, but replacement bottles are only $15 for a 2-pack
- You can modify just how carbonated you want your drinks to be – less or more (though I wouldn’t go too far over, lest your bottle explodes all over the place)
- You can also modify your flavouring. Find the (green) Cream Soda flavour too sweet? Then don’t pour in as much next time!
- The bottles are easy-care – just rinse in warm (never hot) water, and never with any detergents.
- The soda bulbs are about $15 to replace, though you get a discount when you return your used bulbs to stores like KMart. Some stores I’ve noticed you can get the bulbs from the Soda Stream section, some stores they are kept behind the customer service counter.
- When you’re mixing the syrup into the carbonated water, be very gentle so the bubbles stay happy and bubbly
- Store uncarbonated bottles in the fridge (filled with water, of course) and keep the syrup bottles in the fridge too – apparently keeping it all cold makes for maximum effect
- You could use other flavourings too – we’ve tried fancy lemon cordial from our local Deli (though we only add flavour in the glass in case it causes damage to the bottle)
- If you’re not into flavoured soft drinks, you can just carbonate plain water – as much or as little as you like. It makes a nice, crisp difference to still water
[Photos in this post have been taken with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo that we've been lucky enough to trial for a couple of weeks. We haven't been paid, but they did let us drink champers in a stretch limo. The photos haven't been photoshopped, save for resizing and adding the watermark.]
Vegetarian spring rolls (2pcs) $6.80
Steamed prawn dumplings (4pcs) $10.80
Garlic king prawns $33.80
Roasted pork belly cubes with XO chilli sauce $24.80
Mango pancakes
